Lhoba (Bokaer, Bengni, Luoba, Lhopa, Loba, Yidu, Bengru, Idu)
Total population
11,000+
Regions with significant populations
India  (Arunachal Pradesh) 21,00,000 Tibet, China 3,000
Languages
Lhoba, Tibetan
Religions
Animism Tibetan Buddhist (primarily in Tibet)
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The Lhoba (珞巴) is currently the smallest officially recognized ethnic group in China. They are divided between the Yidu (Idu), which is classified as one of the three sub-tribes of the Mishmi, and the Boga'er (Bokar), a sub-tribe of the Adi. Both groups, also found in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, collectively form a population of around 10,500. Image File history File links Flag_of_India. ... Arunachal Pradesh   (Hindi: Aruṇācal PradeÅ›; Chinese: 藏南 Zangnan or South Tibet) is one of the seven northeastern states of India. ... Tibet (older spelling Thibet; Tibetan: བོད་; Wylie: Bod; Lhasa dialect IPA: [; Simplified and Traditional Chinese: 西藏, Hanyu Pinyin: XÄ«zàng; also referred to as 藏区 (Simplified Chinese), 藏區 (Traditional Chinese), ZàngqÅ« (Hanyu Pinyin), see Name section below) is a plateau region in Central Asia and the indigenous home to the Tibetan people. ... The Tibetan language is spoken primarily by the Tibetan people who live across a wide area of eastern Central Asia bordering South Asia, as well as by large number of Tibetan refugees all over the world. ... In its most general sense, the term Animism refers to belief in souls (anima is Latin for soul): in this sense, animism is present in nearly all religions, including religions such as Christianity that see souls as distinct from bodies and as limited to humans. ... Tibetan Buddhism, (formerly also called Lamaism after their religious gurus known as lamas), is the body of religious Buddhist doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet and the Himalayan region. ... The Mishmi of India is an ethnic tribe comprising of mainly three tribes: Idu Mishmi; Digaru (Taraon) Mishmi, and Miju Mishmi. ... People traditionally described as Adi principally inhabit mountainous central Arunachal Pradesh state in North East India, in addition to a few scattered areas of South Eastern Tibet. ... Arunachal Pradesh   (Hindi: Aruṇācal PradeÅ›; Chinese: 藏南 Zangnan or South Tibet) is one of the seven northeastern states of India. ...

The Lhoba live in southeastern Tibet, notably in Mainling, Medog, Lhunze and Nangxian counties of Nyingchi Prefecture in southeastern Tibet. Additionally, a small number live in Luoyu, southern Tibet. Many more live in south of the Tibetan border in Dibang Valley in Arunachal Pradesh, where they engage in traditional agriculture and hunting. Until the Chinese occupation of Tibet, the Lhoba had no written language. Even though a romanized alphabet was developed for them, there are many elderly Lhoba who can neither read or even count. The occupation of Tibet also brought many changes to traditional Lhoba culture. Most significantly, it helped to integrate the Lhoba with the dominant Tibetan culture and began to put an end to the rigid class system, by which the Lhoba were divided into two distinct castes – aristocrat (maide) and peasant (nieba) – which were not allowed to intermix. Tibet (older spelling Thibet; Tibetan: བོད་; Wylie: Bod; Lhasa dialect IPA: [; Simplified and Traditional Chinese: 西藏, Hanyu Pinyin: XÄ«zàng; also referred to as 藏区 (Simplified Chinese), 藏區 (Traditional Chinese), ZàngqÅ« (Hanyu Pinyin), see Name section below) is a plateau region in Central Asia and the indigenous home to the Tibetan people. ... Nyingchi Prefecture (Tibetan: ཉིང་ཁྲི་ས་ཁུལ་; Wylie: nying-khri sa khul; simplified Chinese: 林芝地区; pinyin: LínzhÄ« DìqÅ«) is a prefecture in southwestern Tibetan Autonomous Region in western China. ... Tibet (older spelling Thibet; Tibetan: བོད་; Wylie: Bod; Lhasa dialect IPA: [; Simplified and Traditional Chinese: 西藏, Hanyu Pinyin: XÄ«zàng; also referred to as 藏区 (Simplified Chinese), 藏區 (Traditional Chinese), ZàngqÅ« (Hanyu Pinyin), see Name section below) is a plateau region in Central Asia and the indigenous home to the Tibetan people. ... This page needs to be split between the Upper Dibang Valley and the Lower Dibang Valley article. ... Arunachal Pradesh   (Hindi: Aruṇācal PradeÅ›; Chinese: 藏南 Zangnan or South Tibet) is one of the seven northeastern states of India. ... Tibet is situated between the two ancient civilizations of China and India, but the tangled mountain ranges the Tibetan Plateau and the towering Himalayas serve to distance it from both. ... For other uses, see Alphabet (disambiguation). ... Social class describes the relationships between people in hierarchical societies or cultures. ... Caste systems are traditional, hereditary systems of social stratification, enforced by law or common practice, based on classifications such as occupation, race, ethnicity, etc. ...

Customs and dress

Many customs, habits and dress of different clan members may vary. The Lhoba men in Luoyu wear knee-length black jackets without sleeves and buttons made out of sheep's wool. They wear helmet-like hats either made from bearskin or woven from bamboo stripes or rattan laced with bearskin. They also wear ornaments that include earrings, necklaces made of beads, and bamboo plugs inserted into the ear lobe. The Lhoba women wear narrow-sleeved blouses and skirts of sheep's wool. The weight of the ornaments the womenfolk wear is a symbol of their wealth, which includes shells, silver coins, iron chains bells, silver and brass earrings. Both sexes usually go barefooted. Their dress are quite similar to the Tibetan costume. The Idu men wear a sword and waterproof cane helmet, and a chignon on their hair and shields made of buffalo hide. Yidu weaponry includes straight Tibetan sword, dagger, bow and poisoned arrows. Tibet (older spelling Thibet; Tibetan: བོད་; Wylie: Bod; Lhasa dialect IPA: [; Simplified and Traditional Chinese: 西藏, Hanyu Pinyin: XÄ«zàng; also referred to as 藏区 (Simplified Chinese), 藏區 (Traditional Chinese), ZàngqÅ« (Hanyu Pinyin), see Name section below) is a plateau region in Central Asia and the indigenous home to the Tibetan people. ...

Among the Yidu Lhoba (Idu Mishmi), one of the sub-tribe is the Bebejia Mishmi. Female members of Bebejia Mishmi are expert weavers and make excellent coats and blouses.^[1]

The Idu houses are divided into a number of rooms for use of every married person. Unmarried girls and boys sleep in separate rooms. A fireplace occupies the centre of the room, round which the inmates sleep. The Idus are polygamous and each wife has their own rooms in the house. The family is organised in patriarchal principles. Inheritance of widows are exceptional as compared to a mother.

The wooden pillow of the master of the house is considered taboo to the inmates of the house as it is considered improper to sit upon it. Guests are not allowed to enter the room of the master of the house. The animal skulls preserved in the house are considered to be sacred.

The slash and burn method of cultivation, known as Jhum, is the main stay of the Idus, and clearing of land is carried for every three to five years. The important crops they raised are paddy, arum, tapioca, millet and maize. Rice is the staple food supplemented by millet maize and tapioca. They also take leafy vegetables, beans, gourd, sweet potato etc. Animal flesh is considered taboo to Idu woman. The Yidu also consume "Yu", a locally brewed rice beer, and rice beer prepared by a woman during her period is taboo to a priest.

The Idu calendar was based upon the menstrual period of the women and dating is done by untying one each from a number of knots put on a piece of string. Traditional village panchayat (abbala) settles all internal disputes among the tribe.

Culture and religion

Few Lhoba know the Tibetan language. In the past, when there was no writing, the Lhobas kept track of history through telling their descendants and tying knot codes about their past. Their literature also poses a significant influence on their Tibetan counterparts. The Tibetan language is spoken primarily by the Tibetan people who live across a wide area of eastern Central Asia bordering South Asia, as well as by large number of Tibetan refugees all over the world. ...

They engage in barter trade in the Tibetan, trading goods like animal hides, musk, bear paws, dye and captured game for farm tools, salt, wool, clothing, grain and tea from Tibetan traders. As a result of constant trading with the Tibetans, they have been increasingly influenced by the Tibetans in their dress. Many Lhobas have converted to Tibetan Buddhism in the recent years as they traded in the Buddhist monasteries, thus frequently mixing with their indigenous Animist beliefs, which had traditionally deep roots in the tiger. Others remain Animistic, more commonly among those in Arunachal Pradesh, and their pilgrim centre of the community lies at Atho-Popu in Dibang valley. The stories about immigration mentioned is along the banks of twelve rivers in Dibang Valley, the clustered area known as Cheithu-Huluni. Among the Yidu, they traditionally believed that "Inni" is their supreme god. Tibet (older spelling Thibet; Tibetan: བོད་; Wylie: Bod; Lhasa dialect IPA: [; Simplified and Traditional Chinese: 西藏, Hanyu Pinyin: XÄ«zàng; also referred to as 藏区 (Simplified Chinese), 藏區 (Traditional Chinese), ZàngqÅ« (Hanyu Pinyin), see Name section below) is a plateau region in Central Asia and the indigenous home to the Tibetan people. ... Ethnolinguistic Groups of Tibet, 1967 Ethnic Tibetan autonomous entities set up by the Peoples Republic of China. ... Tibetan Buddhism (Simplified Chinese: 藏传佛教) is the body of religious Buddhist doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet, the Himalayan region (including northern Nepal, Bhutan, and Sikkim and Ladakh), Mongolia, Buryatia, Tuva and Kalmykia (Russia), and northeastern China (Manchuria: Heilongjiang, Jilin). ... This article needs additional references or sources to facilitate its verification. ... This article is in need of attention. ... This article is in need of attention. ... Arunachal Pradesh   (Hindi: Aruṇācal PradeÅ›; Chinese: 藏南 Zangnan or South Tibet) is one of the seven northeastern states of India. ... Atho-Popu (also known as Popu) is the sacred place for the Idu people. ...

Festivals such as Reh are celebrated to control the peace and prosperity of the people. This is meant to appease the deities, who were traditionally believed to control the peace and prosperity of the people, which is the thought behind the celebration of the Reh festival. The celebration with great fan-fare and the performance of priest dance marks the ending of the festival.

There are four variants of funerals among the Yidu Lhoba (idu Mishmi), and people of different social status would choose to conduct either of the four different variants. In all variants, the Igu priest would recite mourning songs for the dead. Mithuns are being sacrificed in the Yah variant of the funeral, which lasts for three to four days. Binomial name Bos gaurus H. Smith, 1827 The Gaur (Bos gaurus, previously Bibos gauris) is a large, dark-coated ox of the hilly areas of India and Southeast Asia, which may be found wild or domesticated. ...

The young boys are trained to hunt at an early age. However, women had low status in society and had no inheritance rights from their husbands or fathers. The Lhoba also enjoy a subtropical/warm temperate climate.

Cuisine

Lhoba cuisine varies across regions. Staple foods are dumplings made of maize or millet flour, rice or buckwheat. In places near Tibetan communities people have tsampa, potatoes, buttered tea and spicy food. Being heavy drinkers and smokers, at celebrations the Lhobas enjoy wine and singing to observe good harvests and good luck. The buttered tea is their favourite drink. However, due to the lack of salt, they had suffered endemic goiter, caused by poor living conditions. Many were either born deaf or mute. Their population went down in decline until recent years due to this disease. Due to their low population, many of them either intermarried with the Tibetans or with the tribal groups of Arunachal Pradesh, notably the Monpa. A goitre (or goiter) (Latin struma) is a swelling in the neck (just below adams apple or larynx) due to an enlarged thyroid gland. ... Arunachal Pradesh   (Hindi: Aruṇācal PradeÅ›; Chinese: 藏南 Zangnan or South Tibet) is one of the seven northeastern states of India. ... The Monpa (门巴) are an ethnic group in the Peoples Republic of China, with a population of 50,000, centered in the districts of Tawang and West Kameng. ...

History

With the excavation of the Bhismakanagar, a stronghold of the Chutiya caste, which existed up to the sixteenth century, shed light to their traditional history. According to archaeologists, Bhismakanagar tells about the contribution made by the Yidu Lhoba to the synthetic fabric of Indian culture, and as well as the early arrival of Catholicism to this region. In the mid-nineteenth century, the first Westerners visited the area populated by the Idu Mishmis. (15th century - 16th century - 17th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century was that century which lasted from 1501 to 1600. ...

Since the coming of liberation (or the occupation), followed by the Tibetan rebellion in 1959, the Chinese government has significantly improved their living condition.^{[citation needed]} Since then, they were treated as equals by society. Now they are well represented in government at regional, county, district and township levels. Production was boosted and people's living standards and general health improved with loans and relief extended by the government. Previously were serfs, the Lhoba received land, farm implements and draught animals.

Notes

References

• The Lhopas
• The Lhoba minorty group
• Lhoba ethnic minorty
• Ethnic Groups-Lhobas
• PROPEL
• Unreached People prayer profiles
• Compiling the Tibetan folktale
• Ethnologue profile of the Yidu Lhoba, old profile
• Ethnologue profile of the Boga'er Lhoba
• Idu Arts and Crafts
• UNESCO Cultural centre
• Idu Mishmi ritual dance
• Articles on the tribal groups of Arunachal Pradesh
• Funeral of the Idu Mishmi, photographs

Ethnic profile references

• Asia harvest profile - Bagar Lhoba
• Asia harvest profile - Yidu Lhoba
• Asia harvest profile - Puriok